Topic: Bit.Trip.Beat Thread ... Some questions ...

I have played the game many many times and love it, but trying to understand some game play mechanics.

Firstly, is there a way to know which "beats" shrink you and which expand?
Secondly, how do you "refill" the nether bar?
Thirdly, in multi mode, I have missed beats but kept my multiplier ... how is this possible?
Thanks!!!

(a) memorization. with enough practice, you get the feel for which special bits will do what to you, and also where you need to be to catch the special bits (there are some places that are nearly impossible to get through without catching 'em)
(b) the way the bars work is that you go up levels for filling the one by doing well, and then there's the secondary bar that fills as you miss beats. no matter what level you're at (Hyper, Mega, Super, whatev'), as soon as the secondary bar fills, you drop one level. If you're just on Hyper (or whatever the starting level is, i never pay attention lol) , that's when you drop down into Nether. The bars work the same in Nether as they do in the other levels, only if you fill the secondary bar in Nether by missing too many beats, you'll lose the game.
(c) haven't played multiplayer with it yet, so i dunno, lol :3

Hey thanks for the response ,.... wondering though, are there any challenge beats that I shouldn't get? Are they distinguished by color or anything? also -- is there a way to increase the nether bar??

Challenge beats are unfortunately not distinguished by color. I wish they were. The only way to know which ones to avoid is to get them, decide if it's too hard to be worth getting, and remember not to get it next time.

all the special bits are white. You want to pick them up for their multiplier bonuses, but there are a couple that make your paddle smaller that you may want to avoid if you're not quite up to speed with the level you're playing. again, memorization (remembering at which point in the song which special bits show up) is the only way to know for sure.

also, there is no way to decrease the rate at which the Nether bar fills (or to increase its overall length so that it fills more slowly), if that's what you're asking, not to my knowlege, anyway. feel free to correct me, anybody -- i'd love to know how to do that myself. :3

I think there's some misused terminology going around here. There are several different kinds of white beats. But only the ones that make your paddle smaller say Challenge. There is no way to distinguish these from the other white beats save by memorization. If your goal is simply to complete the level, there's nothing to gain by getting them unless the multiplier affects your meters somehow that I don't know about.

if you miss the white beats do you lose your multiplier?

Yes

missing them also counts against the Nether bar, just so you know :3